anyone have any idea of the fees for legally hosting a station in usa, including payments to fcc, and whatever else there would be.

Wed Mar 29, 2006 12:08 am

anonRegular poster

Joined: 11 May 2005Posts: 39Location: Northern California

I'm not sure if you are talking about a full power station or a low power one, AM or FM, commercial or non-commercial, etc. Short answer though is that if you have to ask, you can't afford it.

Let's assume you want to start a Low Power FM station (LPFM). You have to broadcast at exactly 100 Watts ERP using an FCC certified transmitter (about $2000). You would have to find an open channel that has at least 2 open channels on either side of it (good luck!). Then you have to wait for the FCC filing window for your region to open up (the FCC hasn't announced any new filing windows since 2000 or 2001). If/when the filing window opens, you have to meet several criteria in order to apply (for example, you have to be a community organization that has been established at least 2 [I think] years prior to applying for the channel and you can not be afiliated with any other media organization like another radio station). Assuming you get this far, you would likely be competing with several other organizations for that open channel.

I am setting up a LPFM station in my area that was lucky enough to get a construction permit back in 2000 so I know a lot about this but I'm a little fuzzy on some of the details right now. If you really want to get on the air, I suggest getting a group together and either establish an internet radio station or see if a radio station in your area would give you some air time. Those, of course, are some of the legal options.